Breaking the Chains
by BeaRsBeeTsBattleStarGalacticAx
Summary: She knows he wants out... he has for a while now. He just hadnt had the guts to do anything about it, that is until she came along. I know the summary sucks it's better than it sounds.
1. Chapter 1

(AN: I got the itch to start writing this while watching The Alliance on TV. I've been conTEMPlating this story for a few weeks, and I had to put it out there… And before I forget, I don't own anything that has to do with The Office, Greg Daniels and Ricky Gervais do. I only own seasons 2 and 3 on DVD. I hope everyone likes it and remembers to read and review).

* * *

**Michael talking-head **

Michael is sitting in his office with a mug of coffee in front of him.

"Yup," he tells the camera crew. "We have a new edition to the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton family!" He pauses. "It's like bringing home a new baby… it's gonna be great!"

* * *

* * *

**Jim talking-head **

Jim is sitting in his office as usual. There are papers scattered around his desk.

"She's gonna be overwhelmed," he tells the camera crew. "Michael is gonna be up in her face _all _day... it'll be a miracle if she makes it through the day." He cracks a smile. "What? Oh, she's already getting Dwight pissed off."

* * *

I'm in the conference room of the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton office, sitting nervously in my chair. It's my first day working there, and now I'm 10 times more apprehensive after getting bombarded by my new boss, Michael Scott. The only reason I took this job in the first place was because, one, I have family here, and two; I'm in between jobs right now. When I went into college, I wanted to become a teacher, but when I wasn't getting any jobs as a substitute, I decided to move out here to Scranton.

"Come on up here Kenny!" Michael says. I cringe at the sound of the nickname he's already given me.

_It makes me sound like a 12 year old boy, I think. _

I look up at him shyly, not wanting to go up in front of complete strangers.

"I don't think she wants to Michael," Pam, one of the sales people, says.

"Oh stop it!" Michael cries. "Tell us something about yourself."

I stand up and turn around to face the unfamiliar faces.

"Well, um," I stammer. "I'm from Massachusetts. And…" I pause to think of something else to say. "I'm studying to become a teacher."

"Interesting," Michael mumbles. "That's good, we're gonna need another babysitter in this little family, right guys?"

The guy wearing a gross, mustard colored shirt and glasses that looked older than I was laughs.

"I did not think that was funny," the heavy set man sitting in the back of the room with a crossword puzzle book in his lap says.

Michael claps his hands together. "Alright, seeing that you're all _bored _out of your minds, meeting over," he tells us. "Back to work!"

Everyone hesitantly gets up from their chairs and went back to their desks. I was stuck on the end of the little "island" of desks that consisted of Dwight, the guy with the mustard colored shirt's desk, and another salesman who introduced himself to me as Ryan. I couldn't understand how Ryan could handle being in such close proximity with the guy, I'd only known him for an hour and I could already tell he was annoying.

I sit down at my desk, and suddenly I feel like someone's behind me. I whip my swivel chair around, relieved to see Jim, the co-manager, smiling warmly.

"Do you…need help with anything?" he asks. "Like setting up a work e-mail, or setting up spread sheets or anything like that?"

Before I can answer, Dwight intervenes.

"That's baby stuff Jim," he says. "Only a ditz wouldn't know how to do that…"

The camera cuts to Kelly humming some bubble-gum pop song to herself.

"Dwight," Jim says, sounding annoyed.

"What Jim?" he asks innocently. "I can't have my opinion?"

I roll my eyes, and see Ryan do the same out of the corner of my eye.

* * *

**Dwight talking-head, the conference room**

"Look at her!" he cries. "She's a weakling… couldn't survive a day at Schrute Farms."

* * *

"So are you good?" Jim asks me.

"Yeah, I think I got everything covered now," I tell him.

"Good," he says with a smile. With that, he walks back to his office.

I take a look at the week's report; it's pretty long. I let out a heavy sigh and open up Microsoft Excel. I look a little to my left, and Ryan gives me a sympathetic look. A smile spreads across my lips. Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought…


	2. Chapter 2

It's already 11:45… great. I've sort of been dreading this part of the day. It's lunch time here at Dunder Mifflin Scranton, and as I walk into the break room where everyone is eating lunch, I see that everyone is sitting at a table with at least one other person. Jim and Pam are sitting at one table, Ryan and Kelly are sitting at another, Kevin and Creed are standing over by the vending machines, and Oscar, Angela and Phyllis are sitting at another table.

Suddenly I felt really insecure and awkward, like I was back in high school again. And then, to my surprise, I see Pam waving me over.

"Come sit with us," she tells me. I look around nervously, debating whether or not I should sit with them. They _are _married, and I kind of don't want to be a bother.

I decide to sit with them, and walk over to the table they're sitting at.

"How's your first week going?" Jim asks when I get settled.

"Pretty good so far," I tell them. "I'm still trying to recover from when Michael practically groped me."

"Hah, you'll get used to him soon," Pam says.

"He's definitely a character," I say, opening my sandwich bag.

There's an awkward silence between the three of us.

"Hey, John F!" Andy exclaims, walking into the break room. Everyone looks at each other. "Get it? John F. _Kennedy_?"

I try to hold in my laughter, but it doesn't really work.

Angela rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, good one Andy," Jim says sarcastically.

I cough, trying to disguise my laughter.

"I know right?" Andy asks rhetorically.

He sits at the table Ryan and Kelly are at, and Kelly sighs.

"You must be pretty mad that the Patriots are playing golf now huh?" Jim says, turning towards me.

"Ehh, I'm more of a New York sports girl," I tell him.

He gives me a surprised look. "You must've gotten your ass kicked in high school," he laughs.

"I got it more from my brother and my dad than anyone else," I say.

"Damn it Ryan!" Kelly suddenly cries. "Are you listening to a word I'm saying?"

"What's going on?" I whisper.

"Kelly is _really _clingy and annoying when it comes to Ryan," Pam explains. "Supposedly they hooked up one night a few years ago, and Kelly took it completely the wrong way, and she hasn't let him go since."

"That sucks, for him," I say.

I glance up at the clock, and it's already 12:30.

_Crap, I think. Now I have to be 2 feet away from Dwight again… Ugh, I'll probably be able to smell all that cologne he put on for Angela. _

Everyone herds back to their posts, groaning and moaning about how there's still 4 and a half hours until we all get let loose for the day. I decide to go into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, because by now my energy level is at 0. Getting up at 7 o'clock _every _morning has been getting to me.

When I walk into the small, white kitchen, I see that the fridge door is wide open. I shrug it off and go into the cabinet where the cups and paper plates are. I take a mug with a picture of a black bear on it and pour myself some coffee.

I turn around to go back into the main part of the office, but the refrigerator door closes and Kelly is standing in front of me.

"Hi!" she says in a bubbly tone. "I don't think we've met yet, I'm Kelly."

"Kennedy," I tell her.

"That's _such _a cool name!" she says. "Like Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy!"

"Yeah," I say, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"So," she says. "Are gonna see Dear John when it comes out? Oh my God, it looks _so_ cute! And Channing Tatum… ohmiGOD he is so hot!"

"I'm probably gonna see it," I tell her.

"Yeah, I'm probably gonna take Ryan to see it," she says, beaming.

"Speaking of Ryan," I say nervously. "Are you two…?"

"Together?" she asks. "Yeah, we've been going out on and off for like, 4 years!"

"Wow, that's a long time," I say, looking around.

"Yeah," she says. "I know you probably won't… but if you even _look _at Ryan the _wrong_ way, you'll be breathing through a tube… or something just as bad. So I'll be watching you like a _hawk_."

"Oh-okay," I stutter. I practically run out of the kitchen, or as fast as I can run in heels.

I take a quick sip of my coffee, then put it down, and go straight into Michael's office. He's laughing hysterically at something on his computer.

"M-Mr. Scott?" I ask. "Are you busy?"

"No no," he tells me, looking up from the computer. "What's up?"

"I… um…" I stutter.

"C'mon kid, spit it out already!" he exclaims.

"Kelly threatened me!" I shout. "She said-"

"It doesn't matter what she said," Michael says. "Go whine to Toby about this, not me."

"Ullck, you're unbelievable Michael," I mumble. I walk out of his office in a huff, and when I get back to my desk, Ryan isn't at his. I look around the large room, and my eyes stop over at the Annex. Ryan is over by Kelly's desk, and she's whispering something in his ear. Suddenly his face flushes pale and his eyes get wide. The sound of Kelly's shrill voice fills the office.

"J-Just, go back to your desk!" she tells him. "And remember, if I hear that anything happened…" she points at me and slides her finger across her throat. She pushes Ryan out of the Annex and he slowly walks back to his desk.

He leans down so he's eye level with me. All of a sudden I got really jumpy. "Hey, I'm really sorry about Kelly," he tells me. "She doesn't like when I talk to other girls… even if it's regular conversation. She thinks _every _girl I talk to except her is flirting with me."

All I do is nod my head.

"Hey!" Dwight suddenly shouts. "Why did you take my mug?"

"I-I didn't know it was yours," I tell him truthfully.

"Well now I can't ever use it again, because it has _your _germs on it!" he yells.

"You can wash it you know Dwight," Pam says.

Dwight gives her a death glare.

* * *

Michael comes strutting out of his office. "Alright everyone," he bellows. "Conference room, ASAP!"

We all look at him like he has 10 heads and slowly get up from our posts.

"You heard what he said, conference room, _now_!" Dwight yells.

Everyone looks at each other and heads towards the conference room.

"What do you think it's about this time?" I ask Pam.

"I have no idea, but I hope it's not like when he gave us a presentation on his vacation to the Bahamas," she says.

"_The _most disturbing hour of my life," I say. "How can one guy have that many pictures of himself with his ex girlfriend?"

"Okay guys," he says, standing in front of the room. "Today, we are going to play…

* * *

**Ryan talking-head **

"I swear to God if Michael gives me another reason why I would be the one he would "do" from the office, I'm puke," he tells the camera crew.


	3. Chapter 3

I was sitting at my desk like I normally did every single morning. Dwight dropped the weekly report on my desk, and I grunted incoherently. He gave me a "ha ha" look.

"Real mature Dwight," I said. "We're not on the playground."

"Pffft," he mumbled. "I'm so scared of you."

I looked over at Ryan's desk, and it was still empty. I looked over towards the Annex, and he wasn't there either. I frowned.

"Newbie, get in here!" Michael called from his office. I sighed and got up from my desk. I went into Michael's office, and he had a grave look on his face.

"What's wrong Michael?" I asked automatically.

"The tribe has spoken!" he exclaimed. I gave him a confused look. "You've been voted off the island!"

"What?" I asked him, getting more and more confused.

"You're moving to reception!" he cried.

"What?" I asked him again.

"Yeah!" he said. "You can go move your stuff now."

"I… um, okay," I said.

I walked out of his office and went back to my desk to collect my things, not noticing that Ryan had come in late.

"Hey," he said kind of quietly. I turned around quickly to see him looking up at me from his desk.

"Hi," I said. "I thought you weren't coming in today…"

"I missed my alarm," he said with a chuckle.

"That's a good way to start your day," I said sarcastically. "So I guess Jim's taking my desk… since he's coming back to sales?"

He gave me a quizzical look.

"Michael moved me to reception," I told him. "I have no idea why."

"I guess so then," he said, sounding a little disappointed.

_Why does he sound upset? I thought. He has a girlfriend, and it's not like he'd ever be interested in me… _

"Well, I'm gonna go get situated," I said, breaking the awkward silence.

"Alright," he said. He looked over into the Annex, and as I suspected, Kelly was watching us. "Oh God."

Suddenly, Michael came strutting out of his office.

"Everyone, I have a quick announcement to make before everyone gets started for the morning," he bellowed. "I've moved Kennedy to reception, since Jim is coming back to sales."

There were murmurs coming all corners of the office.

"Where's Erin going?" Andy asked, sounding concerned. He turned a light shade of pink when everyone looked at him.

"Erin… is going to be my assistant," Michael told everyone. "So she's not going anywhere."

Erin had a look of relief on her face, and Andy smiled.

"Back to work!" he exclaimed.

I put my box of things from my desk on top of the counter at the reception desk, and my bag on the floor next to me. Within a few minutes, all my pictures and knick-knacks were on my new desk. I smiled, looking at everything. Something about it felt right.

Suddenly, the phone rang, and my stomach dropped. I hadn't even gotten settled at my new post and the phone was already ringing! It _was _my job to answer the phones and everything. I hesitantly picked it up.

"Dunder Mifflin… this is Kennedy," I said nervously.

"Kennedy?" the person on the other line asked. I was relieved that it was only Pam. "I was expecting Erin… kinda getting used to it ya know?"

"It's a long story, I'm sure Jim'll tell you," I said. "How are you?"

Pam had had her baby a few days before, and was on maternity leave for two months.

"I'm alright, just exhausted," she said. "Thank God my mom's been helping a lot."

"That's good," I said. "Jim's been worried about you guys."

"Really?" Pam asked. "Can you transfer me to him?"

"Sure hold on," I told her. I pressed the transfer button, put in Jim's extension, and hoped I did it right.

Jim gave me a thumbs up, and I hung up the phone.

Just then, Kevin came waddling over to my desk.

"Hi," he said in his usual way. "Do you have any M&Ms?" he asked.

"No, sorry Kev," I said.

He looked disappointed.

"I'll get some during lunch, I promise," I told him.

"Thanks," he said, giving me his semi-creepy smile.

He walked away and I went back to work. I logged on my computer and checked my emails. There was one from Michael about the meeting that was going to happen this afternoon about Lady Gaga. Then I logged onto my IM, and there weren't too many of the people from the office on. Only Jim, Dwight, Michael and Ryan. Then, to my surprise, an IM window popped up.

RHoward: Hey :)

KWalker: Hi

RHoward: Meet me in the break room at lunch

KWalker: Won't Kelly get a little, jealous?

RHoward: Don't worry about it, I got everything covered

KWalker: ??

RHoward: A friend can sit with a friend at lunch… it's no big deal

KWalker: Not to your girlfriend

RHoward: Dwight's giving me a death glare, I gotta go

KWalker: Okay bye :)

RHoward: :)


End file.
